Orissa's opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Thursday organised separate demonstrations against the state
government's irregularities in acquiring land for a proposed
university. »

Bhubaneswar: Thousands
of people from a cross-section of society Tuesday took out a
motorcycle rally in Orissa's Puri district as a mark of their
victory in forcing the government to dump its plans to set up the
Vedanta University in the region.

Raising slogans against the government and Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik, the protesters began their rally at Puri town and
converged at the Beladala village - the proposed site of the
project, some 60 km from here.

Several leaders of opposition parties like the Congress and the
Bharatiya Janata Party were among those addressed the gathering.

It was a rare occasion when leaders of both the rival parties were
seen sharing the dais over an issue.

The rally was organized by the Vedanta Viswa Vidyalaya Virodhi
Sangharsha Samiti - a local organization which led the agitation
against the project.

A division bench of the Orissa High Court earlier this month
quashed the process of land acquisition for the proposed
university and directed the authorities to return the acquired
land to its owners.

"We welcomed the court decision. Besides we wanted to convey our
anger to the government which has been pushing the project
illegally compromising the interest of the state and the people,"
Uma Ballav Rath, a protest leader, told IANS.

The Anil Agarwal Foundation, promoted by NRI industrialist and
chairman of Britain-based Vedanta Resources Anil Agarwal, was
setting up the multi-disciplinary Vedanta University near the
Konark-Puri marine drive.

The university was to come up in over 6,000 acres of land with a
phased investment of Rs.150 billion ($3.5 billion). Chief minister
Patnaik had earlier said his government may appeal against the
high court judgment in the apex court.

You could say he barges into weddings, but it's all for a good
cause. Santosh Bajpai turns up uninvited at Uttar Pradesh wedding
ceremoies to make the bride, the groom and their relatives plant
saplings and »

The Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday searched the offices and
homes of three Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC)
officials and filed cases against two of them - Lalit Bhanot and
V.K. Verma - for alleged »

An award winning drip irrigation
technology developed by an Indian company that has caught the
attention of the Harvard Business School holds out hope for poor
farmers from earthquake-hit Haiti to Africa. Jalgaon
»

The sixth edition of the Kerala
Migration Survey (KMS 2010), which will monitor the status of
migration and remittances by non-resident Keralites to the state,
has begun. It will be conducted by the Centre for Development
Studies »

Assailants on motorcycles attached bombs to the cars of two
nuclear scientists as they were driving to work in Tehran Monday,
killing one and wounding the other, state media and officials
said.
Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali »

Three years ago a Kerala mechanic hit
the headlines for creating an amphibious vehicle. But today he is a
broken man, having invested all his savings in it. Even as the bank
that gave him a loan is pressing for its dues, he rues no
»

President
of India Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil visited AAMAL, a non
profit organisation to provide services and rehabilitation
to disabled individuals & their families, at Damascus, in
Syria on November 28, 2010. Syrian First Lady and
Chairperson of AAMAL, Mrs. Asma Assad is also seen.

Dr. Omar Khalidi, a great scholar and
the man who articulated the voice of the Indian Muslims during
some of their darkest hours died in an accident November 29. He died at 11:15 AM, November 29, in
Boston at the age of 57. »

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's luncheon meeting Tuesday failed to
end the stalemate over demands for a parliamentary probe into the
allotment of 2G spectrum with the government and the opposition
refusing to budge from their stated positions. »

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